138 Squadron 1955 to 1962

This document is meant to provide a short and, if possible,
authoritative account of the activities of 138 Squadron, when it was
the first squadron in the RAF to operate as a V Bomber Squadron.

The V Bomber was of course, the Vickers Valiant, of which more later. My
own interest in138 Squadron derives from the time I spent, as an Air
Wireless Mechanic, during my National Service. I joined the Squadron in
August 1955 at Gaydon, moving with it to Wittering, and remaining on the
Squadron until I was demobbed in 1957.

Some of the information is from my own recollections, others from
conversations with squadron members, both air and ground crew. During
the narrative I have also drawn on facts and information from various
publications which include:- “RAF Nuclear Deterrent Forces ‘’by Humphrey
Wynne, “V Force” by Andrew Brooks, “Operation Grapple” by Hubbard and
Simmons, and the wonderfully informative “Vickers Valiant, first of the
V Bombers” by Eric B Morgan. I have also made use of the Squadron
Operational Records at the National Archive at Kew.

Why 138?

It would be nice to know just how, and why, squadron numbers are
allocated.

Why 138 was chosen as the pioneer squadron for the V force is not clear. It was of course a Bomber Command 3 Group squadron in its previous role,
flying Lincolns until 1950. However, its’ main claim to fame, is as a
wartime Special Duties Squadron. Flying Lysanders and Stirlings into
occupied Europe and dropping off and picking up agents.

It may have been the Special Duties history that determined someone on
high to decide that 138 should be the first V Bomber squadron. The
squadron was formed in January 1955 at Gaydon, under the command of W/C
R G W Oakley.

S/Ldr. Oakley, as he then was, had been the RAF liaison officer at
Vickers during the aircrafts’ development. He succeeded S/Ldr Foster,
who was killed when ejecting from the first prototype WB210 which was
lost in an accident.

Early Days

The first entry in the Squadron Operational Record Book (ORB) was in
February
1955 and lists the C/O as W/.C, Oakley and a nil return for all other
personnel. Shortly afterwards, other staff arrived and, on the 8th February, the
ORB reports that;
W/.C Oakley went to Wisley to collect the Squadrons’ first aircraft,
which was WP 206. These trips to Wisley became regular occurrences
during the Squadron’s first months.

The next entry in the ORB mentions staff beginning to arrive in all
capacities, both air and ground. The captains listed were S/Ldr. Wilson,
Flt/Lt’s Burberry, Mather and Flavell, and amongst the co pilots were
Flt/Lt’s Steele and Millett.

It is reasonable to assume that the original captains had trained on the
aircraft at Vickers before joining the Squadron. Flt/Lt LB Brown (Jock
Brown), who was an original B flight captain, has confirmed that he flew
the Valiant at Vickers before going to Gaydon. There is also mention of
this arrangement in Humphrey Wynne’s work on the period.

The Squadron spent the early months converting crews and assembling
ground staff. There was a certain amount of aircraft shuffling, as 138
operated PR versions of the Valiant destined for 543 Squadron. There was
also a great deal of demonstrating the aircraft, with fly-pasts for the
great and the good. These, eventually, were deemed to be deflecting the
Squadron from more useful activity.

I remember Gaydon as a pleasant camp with reasonable facilities and
food, but it is amusing to note the ORB mentions, that married officer’s
and their wives were billeted in caravans at a local site.

In June the order came through posting the Squadron to Wittering where,
of course, the bombs, or as the RAF preferred then, “special stores”
were. Of course, we ‘erks’ never knew that in those early days.

An advance party set off on the 22nd June, and the rest of what was by
now ‘A’ flight moved on the 6th July. The ORB shows that the aircrews
were those of Oakley, Wilson
Mather and Flavell. Senior ground staff included C/T’s Clayden, Seaman,
Hetherington and F/S Barman.

Also on the advance party was Flight Sergeant Joy, an NCO who early
members of the squadron will recall had a somewhat neanderthal approach
to his role of squadron discipline NCO. On the arrival of B flight, in
November 55, he became the victim of an organised campaign of
resistance, which consisted of bombarding him with offers culled from
newspapers. These ranged from Charles Atlas body building courses, to
various surgical appliances and marital aids. As I recall, the
co-ordinators of the scheme, who felt themselves to have suffered as a
result of Mr Joy’s attentions, would come round on pay day collecting
for the cost of any postage incurred. There were I suspect, few who
declined to contribute.

Apart from the aforementioned display flying, the main thrust of the
early flying programme was engine trials of the Avon engines. Toward the end of July
in particular, the ORB notes that flying was concentrated on WP222, with
it being flown by all the crews. However, as is now well documented, on
the morning of 29th July, WP 222 crashed at Barnock, shortly after take off in an easterly
direction. The accident enquiry concluded that a runaway aileron trim
tab actuator caused the accident. The aircraft banked to port at 60
degrees before it struck the ground and exploded. It has been said that
on early Valiants the trim switch was very close to the ‘press to talk’
VHF button and it might have been inadvertently actuated by one of the
pilots. However, the court of enquiry concluded that the runaway was
caused by a short circuit in the electrical supply to the trim tab
actuator. Subsequently, steps were taken to ensure that the trim tab
travel was limited on all aircraft. S/Ldr Chalk and his crew were buried
with due ceremony in the Wittering Village Church.

Enter an Innocent

On August the 28th 1955, ‘B’ flight began formation at Gaydon. Enter
yours truly, fresh from Yatesbury. On 5th September, Operation ‘Too
Right’ was undertaken by ‘A’ flight. This consisted of detatching two aircraft WP206 and WP207
on a proving, stroke flag waving, trip to Australia and New Zealand. The
aircraft staged through Iraq , Pakistan, Ceylon and Singapore. The
aircraft worked pretty well, although there was an engine change on
WP206 and various problems with Green Satin and the STR18B HF radio. I
can vouch that STR18 was pretty hopeless on the early aircraft although
this was due to the aerial installation, more than the equipment itself. The trip was commanded by S/Ldr Wilson, who was O/C ‘A’ flight, and
Flt/Lt Mather was the other captain. Ground staff were ferried around by
Hastings, and the whole trip sounds redolent of the grand opinions we
had of ourselves as a Nation at that time, as they staged through all
those old Empire ports of call.

Meanwhile, B Flight was being assembled at Gaydon. One of the things I
found both odd, and faintly endearing, about the Air Force in those
days, was the scarcity of information about what you were supposed to be
doing, and whom you were working for. My own case was typical.

I arrived from Yatesbury having completed the first Air Wireless
Mechanic\V Bomber course. My first place of work was the Radio Servicing Flight
(RSF) where I spent several days staring into space, and wondering what
I was supposed to do. The attitude of the other bods there varied
between, occasional interest in that I was then the first person that
had actually been on a course on STR18, radio compass, ILS et al and
complete indifference.

Then, for reasons I cannot recall, I was dispatched to a crew room at
the western end of the airfield to carry out first line servicing on, by
the standards of the day, these huge and almost frightening aircraft. I
was allowed to join the tea swindle, surely a sign of acceptance, and
spent most of the time talking to the chaps, as there was not a lot of
flying .

It was only when I was “ issued “ to Chief Technician Keen, crew chief
at that time of WP212, that I learned I was now on 138 Squadron. The
Scotsman who emerged from the cabin, having flown the aircraft after it
had major engine repairs, was the one and only Jock Brown, the pilot of
whom it was said ‘he flew a Valiant like a Mosquito’.

During those days in the mid Fifties, when the country was still a
fairly austere place, the Air Force, particularly the V force, seemed to
enjoy a money is no object existence. So it was, that every aircraft on
138 had its own air and ground crew. Each crew chief had a full first line servicing crew; consisting of a
rigger, engine mechanic, electrician, instruments, radar and wireless
mechanics. At that time at Gaydon, the make up of the ground staff was
about equally shared by a few grizzled veterans, (allegedly “difficult”
people from other squadrons), national servicemen and fresh faced ex
boys and apprentices.

The flying activities of ‘B’ Flight at that time were, it appears,
connected with crew selection and training, but I also recall some
formation flying for that years’ Farnborough Air Show. Needless to say,
the ground crew were not informed.

On November 16th , ’B’ flight left for Wittering. Or rather the staff
did. Bad weather meant that the aircraft did not arrive until several
days later. From recollection, the information is not in the ORB, the
aircrews were those of Sq/Ldr Collins, the flight commander, S/Ldr
Clifton, Flt/Lt Steele and the aforementioned Flt/Lt Brown.

Arriving at Wittering was not a pleasant experience, compared with
Gaydon, our accommodation was dire, as was the food , the dispersals and
crew rooms. We slept forty to a room, in double bunks, on the ground
floor of a four room barrack block, ‘A’ flight had already collared the two rooms upstairs. My mind has, I
suspect, blanked out the toilet facilities available to us, but they
were, let us say, no more than adequate.

The food was lousy, engendering a good trade for the NAAFI and the
Malcolm Club; and the ‘B’ flight dispersals, as with ‘A’ flight, had no
running water and Elsun toilets. Furthermore, we had the pleasure of
encountering Flight Sergeant Joy, a new experience for me but not for
many of my colleagues. This gentleman contrived to make what already
seemed a bleak experience considerably worse. However as previously
mentioned steps were taken to draw his teeth, and he retired in 1956 to
be replaced by, the very different, Flight Sergeant Paddy Aldridge.

The Squadron now in one place, flying continued with trials on behalf of
the Bomber Command Development Unit. Hereinafter always known, as
(BCDU). The ORB does not mention the purpose of these flights, although
it lists every sortie. However, we know from various sources that, cross
country navigation trials and bombing exercises on the Lincolnshire
ranges were included.

During this time, anyone working on the airfield, would have noticed a
lone Valiant parked at the western end of the airfield, close to the,
then, very mysterious Bomber Command Armament School (BCAS). To add to
the mystery, the aircraft WP201, was frequently surrounded by wooden
screens. A good way, one might have thought, of drawing attention to it. However, such was the naivety of us young lads, and the secrecy of the
times, that no one asked too many questions about this. Or what the
armourers and carpenters, who began to arrive in our block from a place
called RAF Aldermaston, and who worked at BCAS were up to.

We now know BCAS was a polite euphemism for the establishment that
developed and tested the designs for the British Nuclear Weapons
programme. WP 201 was dropping inert versions of the bomb, known as Blue
Danube, in to the sea at the Orford Ness range. We were, I recall,
granted a look at the bomb installed in a Valiant before the Maralinga
test. But, even then, the officer showing us around could not bring
himself to refer to the big shiny thing as a nuclear bomb, referring to
it only as the weapon for which this aircraft was designed. I think it
fair to say that, by that time, most of us had twigged it.

In January 1956, the Squadron ORB noted that 1321 flight, which
consisted of one Valiant (WP201), was to become ‘C’ flight of 138
squadron. At that time, it appears that there were two crews involved,
those of the flight commander Sq/Ldr Roberts, and Flt/Lt Bates. From
what can be gleaned from the ORB, the 1321 training activities
continued, with 138 crews taking part. In May of 56, ‘C’ flight became
49 Squadron under the command of S/Ldr Roberts. By this time some 138
crews were posted to 49 including S/Ldr Ted Flavell, who was destined to
carry out the first airdrop nuclear test later in the year.

The ORB notes various coming and going of aircrew although, of course,
practically no mention of ground staff. Most of the goings appeared to
be to 49 squadron, with
S/Ldr Steele and his crew disappearing, along with S/Ldr Millett. Also
amongst the disappeared was F/O O’Connor, Jock Browns original co-pilot
who, after a captains course at Gaydon, finished up on 49 Squadron. All
of these officers subsequently carried out live weapon drops during the
Grapple trials at Christmas Island.

The ORB makes reference to routine flying duties throughout the spring
and summer of 1956, although there is mention of what appeared to be a
day trip to Luqa by the CO. This was the first visit of a Valiant to Malta, and in view of what
was to come later in the year, may have had some other significance.

What was to come was, of course, the Suez adventure, campaign, fiasco,
call it what you will. Without getting involved with the rights and
wrongs of what was at the time, and to some people still is, a very
controversial episode, it is amusing and informative to look back. It is
accepted by all parties now, with the release of all the documents, that
Suez was an attempt by the British, French and Israeli governments, to
dispose of the Egyptian Leader Abdul Gemmel Nasser and regain control of
the Canal Zone.

The plan was that Israel would attack Egypt, and the Anglo French
authorities would issue an ultimatum to the warring parties to cease or
we, the allies, would intervene to stop them. Of course, the real reason
was that Nasser had had the temerity to nationalise the Suez Canal, in
which the Brits and the French had both financial and strategic
interests. The outcome is well known, we omitted to ask the Americans
permission, they took umbrage, the Russians rattled their Sabres, and
the enterprise collapsed. Taking with it a great deal of British power
and prestige

I include this potted history, because there were signs, even then, that
things were not as they were later portrayed in the press. I seem to
remember us doing things to the aircraft, such as installing Widow
dispensers and high-level visual bombsights, some time before we went. I
also recall practice bombing with these sights over the Jurby range off
the Isle of Man. This was before there was any attack on Egypt by
Israel.

Regardless of all this, we were told shortly before departure, that we
were to be detached to Malta. Which is how it came about that we
assembled in the hangar on, I seem to recall, a Sunday morning wearing,
as instructed, our pyjamas under our working blue and denims. We were
issued with dog-tag identification discs, and loaded into Shackletons. No seats of course, thirty five of us sitting on the floor for take off,
for what turned out to be a very long, bumpy and uncomfortable flight of
over eight hours to Luqa.

On arriving at Malta and going to work, the first indication that
something was up was when the aircraft were bombed up with what appeared
to be, even to me, ten live one thousand pound bombs. An even larger
clue, was the appearance of Jock Brown and his crew wearing side arms
and emptying their pockets, to ensure that they were not carrying
anything that could identify their base of operations.

Jock and his crew set off with their customary dispatch and we were told
by Chief Tech Keen to be on the airfield in approximately five hours
time to see the aircraft in. Still no explanation of what was going on. So we all meandered off to enjoy the delights of Luqa transit camp, and
to get early tea. About two hours after take off, a Tannoy message
summoned all 138 Squadron crews to their dispersals. When we got there Valiants were landing and taxiing. Something was obviously amiss.

What was amiss, was that whilst the aircraft were in the air, 10 Downing
St was advised that there were American civilians on Cairo West airfield,
one of the primary targets. It is alleged that when he received this
news Anthony Eden said to Anthony Head, who was the War Minister, “get those aircraft back and
I’ll make you a Duke”.

In the event, that proved more difficult than it seemed. A combination
of poor HF radio, and strict radio silence procedures, meant that it was
difficult to contact the aircraft. When contact was made, crews were
dubious about the authenticity of the message. S/Ldr. Clifton, who took
part in the raid, recently stated in a letter to FlyPast magazine that
is was not until he received a message in plain language from Cyprus,
from an officer he recognised, that he was satisfied the recall was
genuine. That officer may have been Group Captain John Woodruffe, the
Officer Commanding Wittering at the time, who was in overall charge of
the air operations at Suez and was based in Cyprus for the event.

For our part, Jock Brown told us that he did not get a recall message. His aircraft (WP215), had the old, unmodified, HF aerial and it was only
when he saw contrails going in the wrong direction that he realised
something was up.

So the campaign did not get of to the start hoped for, however, other
sorties went better and there was fairly intense bombing activity for
the next few days. Eventually, the mission was completed and suddenly,
in the space of a morning, all of the Valiants on the island were gone. This was the return of all the Valiants from 138, 148, 207 and 214
Squadrons.

One of the reasons for the abrupt departure was probably due to Mr
Khrushchev making belligerent comments about sinking Malta with rockets,
and it probably seemed like a good idea to get the shiny new V Bombers
off the island. Needless to say, the ground crews were airlifted out two
days later, having spent the two intervening days watching the Royal
Artillery installing and practicing with anti -aircraft guns.

The Suez trip was portrayed, at the time, as a rousing success for
Bomber Command and proof of the effectiveness of the V Bombers and their
crews. Lord Tedder addressed us at Wittering and told us what a grand
job we had done, and we should be proud of ourselves.

In fact the truth was very different. We now know that, in the main, the
bombing was ineffective and inaccurate. The civilians of Cairo were
treated to varied doses of bombs, which were supposed to fall on
military targets, but did not. This was not due to a lack of skill or
bravery on the part of the aircrew, but was the result of several
factors. The bombing was conducted from great altitude, as the Valiants
were considered vulnerable at low level. There was no suitable bombing
aid; Gee did not cover the Mediterranean. Only a couple of aircraft were
fitted with NBS, an upgrade of the wartime scanning radar H2S, which
itself was far from reliable.

On the ground, servicing equipment was sparse. Someone forgot that the
RAF did not use self-propelled ground equipment, and there were no
tractors available. Try pushing the old Rolls Royce PE set across an airfield, at night,
when your aircraft is loaded with bombs and waiting to start its
engines.

In general, the discovery was made that the V Bombers, and indeed the
Canberras were not suited, or capable, of effective action outside of
Europe. As a result of that, steps were taken to remedy the problem. Later members of the squadron would enjoy the benefits of that
discovery, as they went on various operations to exotic destinations. Operation Sunspot and Lone Ranger exercises all commenced post Suez.

Almost immediately after the return from Luqa, several aircraft were
detached there again. The Squadron had several aircraft and crews at Luqa over Christmas 56. The ORB notes that aircraft and aircrews were rotated over the period,
but there is no mention of ground crew.

During the period of 1956, the only reference to ground crew in the ORB,
refers to Corporal Pop Morley, LAC Bob Maley and AC Rupert Nanton
representing Wittering at the Bomber Command athletics championships,
and Pop Morley going on to represent the Command. Tom Bullamore, an Air
Radar Mechanic, also got a mention for his athletic prowess. I seem to
recall Tom B and Pop Morley having this strange pastime, but I have no recollection
of Bob Maley or Satch Nanton displaying these tendencies.

When ground crew are mentioned, it tends to be for displaying ‘jolly
good sporting prowess’ at footer or such like. Or, in a slightly
patronising sense such as, “ the ground crews did a fine job, working long hours in difficult
circumstances”. Reading these records one is struck by the feeling of
the, ‘them and us’ attitude that prevailed in those times.

Having said that, it has to be said that the relationship between air
and ground crews was quite relaxed, and there was evidence that there
was a positive attempt by the management to foster this situation. Parties were organised at Christmas, at which officers would turn up. In
the case of my own crew, Jock Brown organised a memorable evening at the
Haycock at Wansford for the air crew and ground crew, at which excess
was the order of the evening.

In June 57, the Squadron won the RAF bombing contest, with W/C Oakley’s
the top crew. In July, the CO and Flt/Lt Mather, took part in the
Strategic Air Command Bombing Contest in the USA. They were part of a
contingent from Bomber Command, which included a couple of Vulcans as
well as Valiants from Marham. Although the Valiants did reasonably
well, a Marham Valiant coming 11th out of ninety crews overall, there was
disappointment in political circles. The P.M., Harold Macmillan, is
quoted in a note to the Secretary of State, as saying that we used to
take pride that we were so much better than the Americans at these
things. Yet here were the Valiants coming 27th out of 45 and the Vulcans,
that are supposed to be so much better, doing much worse. The Secretary
of State, George Ward, pointed out the problems our crews had and in
later contests the RAF did much better.

It was on this expedition to the United States that Gp/Cpt Woodruffe,
the very popular and respected Station Commander of Wittering, was
killed when the B47 in which he was a passenger crashed.

In November 1957 W/C Oakley relinquished command of the squadron. He was succeeded by W/C S. Baker. W/C Sidney (Tubby) Baker was a
much-decorated WW2 veteran, whose arrival at the Squadron as C/O,
created a shudder of change amongst Squadron personnel. A ‘working blue’
parade was held on his first day as C/O at which there were apparently
adverse comments about the turn out of the troops. Expensive trips to
the clothing store were the result. It was as well that this regime was
not in force during the squadrons’ earlier years, as it would have been
likely that a quarter of the ground staff did not possess a full set of
working blue. This commenced the era of the “Cats Arse”.

Wing Commander Baker had an expression “you cannot win” (NULLO MODO
VINCES), which both air and ground crew became familiar with, and
referred to any attempt to circumvent his wishes. Certainly his time
with the Squadron was marked by considerable activity. The ‘cat’s arse’
was now to be found in the most unlikely places. Nobby Unwin made a
superb lino-cut, highlighted with black shoe polish, and this was
carefully inserted into the floor covering in front of Tubby’s desk. The
reasoning behind this was, anyone up before the C/O was standing above
the cat. In January 1959, Nobby managed to ‘acquire’ a block of
sandstone, from a Maltese building site, and spent the next few days
carving the cat into it. W/C Baker was not amused and ordered it
destroyed. Luckily, Jock Brown was flying back to Wittering the next
day, and suggested it be placed in the Pannier. Thus, the cat returned
to Blighty, to commence a long and illustrious career.

At this time the ORB notes that the Squadron had a strength of ten
aircraft, occasionally eleven. It appears that an additional two, to
take account of the work carried out on behalf of BCDU, such as the
Rocket Assisted Takeoff trials augmented the normal strength of eight
aircraft. This afforded tremendous entertainment for the ground-crews,
as the aircraft, after taking off, were required to circle the airfield
and drop the rocket motors onto the grass. Since each motor was very
expensive, they were equipped with a parachute, and when one came down
with an unopened ‘chute’ there was a loud explosion, as the remnants of
the fuel exploded. Other motors were dropped, ‘inadvertently’ into the
large pond on the northern perimeter of the airfield.

In April ’59, the Squadron received two ‘Mini-Mokes’ to be tested as
‘on-board’ transportation for aircrew on ‘Lone Rangers’. They fitted,
very nicely, into the bomb-bay but by carrying them, a spares pannier
had to be forfeited. They did however, provide hours of entertainment
for the groundcrew. After receiving clearance from Air Traffic one could
observe these vehicles, containing six or seven occupants, tearing
around the peri-track.

In June 59, this arrangement was formalised by the creation of C Flight,
to handle the BCDU work. The ORB notes that three aircraft were
allocated for this work, WZ400, XD872 and, if the ORB is to be
believed,WP214. During this period, and indeed for most its later life,
the Squadron had a strength of between forty and forty-five officers,
and one hundred and ten to twenty other ranks.

By now, 1958, the Squadron was engaged much more in its basic role as a
member of the medium bomber force, whose prime function was to
airfreight large packages of plutonium and other rather dangerous substances to the Soviet Union. With the benefit of hindsight, this may not seem to have been very
sensible occupation or good use of the taxpayers’ money, but in the
climate of the time it was deemed necessary.

So it was that 138 crews qualified for the select status that showed
them capable of carrying out this fearful work In November 59, the ORB notes that
Messrs Baker and Clifton had achieved select star status, which put them at the
top of the bomber command tree. It’s fair to say that several other
crews achieved this status, but were not always listed in the ORB.

In order to reach the standard of readiness necessary for the deterrent
to be credible, the Squadron practised dispersal to other airfields, including Gaydon
and Leeming. It is interesting to note the detail which the movement
orders for such dispersals went into. Listing in some detail the times
of transport for the ground crew and arrangements for meals etc. It also
included diagrams, displaying where particular pieces of Ground
Equipment were to be placed in the trucks for transportation.

During 1958, other noteworthy events included SAC Tom Bullamore winning
the camp 440 yards championship, and S/Ldr Collins, B Flight commander,
leaving the Squadron to take up an appointment with BCDU. It was also
noted in the ORB, that this officer had set a record time when flying
from Ottawa to Marham earlier in the year. The ORB also mentions that
F/O Stafford, an Air Electronics Officer, became the first RAF officer
to complete one thousand flying hours in a Valiant. Cynics might
conclude that he must have made gallons of soup in that time.

During 1958 and 1959, Squadron aircrew took part in ‘Lone Ranger’ trips
to various destinations including Salisbury Rhodesia, Canada, the United
States and Malta. One assumes the trips were divided out on an “I’ve
been there before, now its your turn” basis.

During 59, several long service pilots left the Squadron. Flt/Lt Mather,
an original A flight captain, went off to BCDU, and S/Ldr Burberry left for
a Victor course at Gaydon. However the high point of the year must have
been a detachment of four aircraft and crews to Butterworth, Malaya it. Presumably this was a flag waving, as well as training exercise. The
Malaya confrontation was going on at the time and the sight of four
shiny white V bombers would have had a sobering affect on our
adversaries.

The annex to the ORB goes into great detail on the travel arrangements,
both for aircrew and ground crew, with much listing of next of kin and
religious affiliation. It also mentions overseas pay ranging from two shillings and nine pence
a day for Officers, to one and sixpence for the troops. Some of the names listed,
as ground crew, will have redolence to the friends of 138, such as Sac’s
Unwin and Roe, J/T’s Craze, Priest, Jones and the notable missing, such
as Messrs Soffe, Auburn and many others. It is worth noting that by now
the Squadron was clocking up between two hundred and fifty and three
hundred flying hours a month. Anything over three hundred hours was
treated with great satisfaction in the ORB. For comparison, in its’
early days, the Squadron would be lucky to achieve one hundred and fifty
hours a month.

The first of April 1959, is a date that lives in infamy for the
ground-crews of the Squadron. After extensive retraction tests in the
hangar, WP402 was returned to the dispersal to await an air-test. This
was to be conducted by the Squadron C/O, Tubby Baker. After taking his
place in the Captains’ seat, he informed the Crew-chief that the
‘emergency up’ had not been reset. The crew-chief, C/T Len Owen, asked
if this could not be reset once the plane was airborne and was told by
Baker that it must be reset immediately. The impossible happened at this
point, and the ‘emergency up’ was activated. The aircraft settled, very
gently, onto it’s nose and PANIC set in. The rigger, Bill Craze, ran to
the flight office to report the disaster and was told, by F/S George
Barman, to “Piss off, I know what day this is”. Thus, the Valiant was not
merely the first to go operational, drop weapons in anger, drop Britains’
Nuclear Deterren, but became the first V-Bomber to Curtsy.

In 1960, the Wittering runway had to be resurfaced and flying was
undertaken from Cottesmore between March and June. Just before that S/Ldr Clifton, now A
Flight Commander, left to take up the job of RAF Liaison Officer at
Offutt Air Base, Nebraska. In early 1960, Tubby Baker completed his tour
and was replaced by W/C H Chinnery. The Squadron returned to Wittering,
where it was joined by No 7 Squadron, from Honnington.

In August, a 7 Squadron aircraft (XD 864) crashed just after take off
and the ORB notes that one of the crew (all killed), was a 138 Pilot,
Flt/Lt W Howard, flying as co -pilot on that particular evening.

During the remainder of 60 and 61, the Squadron continued its’ flying
schedule much as before. There are the usual comings and goings. Flt/LT
Don Briggs left for Gaydon in September 61, to work as instructor on
Victors.

The ORB, in February 62, announces that a memo has been received from
Bomber Command informing them that the Squadron will be disbanded with
effect of Midnight on the 30th March. It goes on to say that, in the
interim, personnel would be receiving new postings and that aircraft and
equipment would be redistributed where appropriate. And that was that.

So ended 138 Squadron. The first, and certainly in view of the old
codgers who served on it, the best V bomber Squadron.

There was, however, a postscript in the final ORB which read something
as follows: “Permission has been granted for two aircraft to take part
in the Bomber Command Bombing and Navigation contest on the 9th and 10th
of April 1962. The crews will be those of W/C Chinnery, and Flt/Lt
Brown”. So Jock Brown, the longest serving 138 pilot, flew on its last
sortie. It was probably Jocks’ last flight for the RAF as he is listed
as retiring in April 1962.

So what was going on that caused the demise of 138? Well to begin with
it had served for seven years, which originally was to be the allotted
span for a V bomber tour. Secondly, the Air Force was now equipped with Vulcans and Victors which, in Macmillan’s words, were supposed to be “so
much better”. However the real truth was probably more complicated.

When Gary Powers’ U2 was shot down by a Surface to Air Missile in 1959,
it really signalled the end for the idea of an airborne high altitude
nuclear deterrent. Although, of course, no one was going to say so at
the time. The RAF’s response to this had been to call for the Mark 2
Vulcan and Victor, which, for a lot of expense, could fly a little
higher and faster than the Mark Ones. However, the Mark 2 Valiant, which
was flying before the Mark One Vulcan and Victor were in service,
comfortably out -performed the B2 Vulcan and Victor. Most importantly,
this aircraft, which was designed to operate at low level was cancelled. The Air Force had
ordered 17 B2 Valiants. WZ 389 to WZ405 were supposed to have been B2’s,
but were subsequently changed to B1’s.

The powers that be had also been persuaded to allocate some Valiants to
Strategic Air Command Europe. This would give the RAF access to some
American nuclear weapons. British versions of these things were a trifle
thin on the ground in those days. Marham was chosen as the station where
these aircraft would be stationed. Presumably because it had nuclear
storage facilities suited to American needs from earlier days. Therefore
a wing was established at Marham, which became the Tactical Bomber
Force, consisting of 148, 207 and 49 Squadron. These were to be the poor
sods that had their aircraft camouflaged and went down to low level
flying. 214 Squadron, the tanker division, was also stationed at Marham. Meanwhile 7 Squadron and 138 remained at Wittering, as the sole
remaining part of the Valiant Medium Bomber force, until the arrival of
the Victors of 100 and 139 Squadrons brought about their retirement.

As we all know, in 1965 the entire Valiant force was retired due to
cracks being found in the main spars. There have been lots of
discussions about the whys and where-fore’s surrounding this decision,
but in truth, there seems to have been little alternative. Cracks had
been found on Valiants before the major incident with WP217 at Gaydon. There had been unexplained accidents, such as WZ 363 at Binbrook. The
problem was almost certainly not due to low level use. Aircraft on 543
Squadron, which operated at high altitude, were found to be just as
liable to cracking as the low level machines.

The truth is, that the whilst the Valiant may not have been as advanced
technically as it’s two competitors, the materials from which it was
made were current state of the art. Metal fatigue was not understood, as
it was to be later.

So ended the Valiant. Try and think of another government project that
was completed so successfully. On time and on budget, and that worked,
to quote Bill Craze in another place, “straight out of the box”. Without
taking anything away from the Vulcan, a great Air Show aircraft, or the
Victor, a wonderful tanker. As an overall project, the Valiant wins
hands down.